Sienese Follower of Cimabue, circa 1280

New England private collection.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This very heavy section of gessoed wood has been encased in the current frame. A triangular section of the panel in the upper right may not be period, or at least could be seriously damaged. However the gilding, the figure and the remainder of the picture seem to be in good state. There are a few noticeable flakes. The paint layer is dirty and although the upper right section does present an issue which requires attention, the remainder of the picture is quite healthy.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This unknown and unpublished panel of the head of an angel is exceptional not only for its pictorial quality, but also for its exceptional state of preservation.  The delicately painted fleshtones and hair of the angel, the striations in the feathers of his wings, and even the fragile mordant gilded contours of his tunic and dalmatic are almost entirely intact. Even the punch work is still fresh and beautifully rendered (except in the later addition at upper right when this painting was converted into a square picture).  Its reappearance is an interesting and beautiful addition to the corpus of late duecento Sienese painting.  

This angel was at one time part of a larger composition, almost certainly a Maestà, or representation of the Madonna and Child enthroned, with attendant angels.  Given the shape of the addition (which cuts strongly across the very top of the angel's head) and the attitude of the figure, it must have been located at the upper right of the panel, possibly standing above the Virgin's elaborately draped and decorated throne.  It is possible, however, that the angel may have been in slightly different location.  In fact, another fragment  (known only through a photograph), which is clearly from the same panel, may provide further hints to both panels' original position (see fig. 1).¹  That painting also represents an angel, turned in the opposing direction, and appears to have matching punchwork decoration in the halo as well as the same foliate design on the decorative border at the neck and along the clavus that decorates his tunic. While the wings of that angel are absent (perhaps due to a regilding in the background), what is present is the outline of a form to the angel's right.  Given the position of this unknown figure, and the very steep angle at which the original edge of the panel cuts across the tops of the heads and through the halos of both figures, it would seem more probable that both angels originally formed part of a cusp above a representation of the Maestà most likely with a figure of the Christ Pantocrator in the center.  This formula exists, for example, in the Maestà by Guido da Siena in the Basilica di San Domenico, Siena (see fig. 2) where the large panel of the Madonna and Child with attendant angels is surmounted by a triangular panel with the Christ and two angels.  Thus, the unknown figure of which a trace exists in the pair to the present angel would be the figure of a Blessing Christ.  The angels in the San Domenico panel of this subject are very similarly composed to the present panel (and its lost pendant).  Both look directly out at the viewer, and their hands gesture to the center, rather than down towards a figure of the Virgin and her son.  The attitudes of the hands in both panels correspond almost exactly, as indeed does the position of the wings of the angel in the present panel, with the San Domenico example by Guido (although as has been noted, Guido's panel was repainted a few years later by a Ducciesque painter).  The Maestà by Guido da Siena has been dated circa 1275, and it is not unreasonable to give the present panel a dating not long after that.²

A number of suggestions have been put forward as likely candidates for the present Head of an Angel.  One possibility is that it might be the work of Guido da Graziano, an artist active in Siena (recorded from 1284), whose most important work is the great Dossal of Saint Peter in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena (inv. 15).³  It is also possible that the panel as noted above may be connected more closely to Guido da Siena and his school, which included a number of painters such as the Master of the Galli Dunn Madonna (Dietisalvi di Speme?) and also almost certainly the young Duccio.

1  This painting was offered for sale at Sotheby's, New York, June 17, 1976, lot 205, as Italian School, 14^th Century (present location unknown).

2  The dating of the San Domenico panel has been widely discussed; although the date of 1221 is painted along with a long inscription and the signature of Guido, it is now generally regarded that this date is not the execution for the panel, and a date of circa 1275 has been suggested (for a fuller explanation see R.  Longhi "Giudizio sul Duecento," Opere complete di Roberto Longhi, VII, Florence 1974, p. 31; and R. Offner, "Guido da Siena and A.D. 1221," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, VI, XXXVII, 1950, pp. 61-90.

3  This attribution was tentatively suggested by Angelo Tartuferi based on photographs.